Why are you crying?
by astrum-faith
Summary: Elphaba wakes up one night to find her room-mate in tears...but what could possibly be terrible enough to reduce the perky pink puffball to this?


Elphaba couldn't sleep. No matter how hard she tried it just wouldn't come. She sat up and pushed the covers away with a sigh, glancing around the room in boredom. It was a full-moon; if it hadn't been the room would be in darkness and Elphaba would never have seen it, but as it was, streams of moonlight slid between the curtains, lighting up the empty bed across from hers.

_Empty? At this hour? But why would she just vanish?_ Elphaba didn't like to admit it, but she was worried about the pink puffball she called her roommate. Slipping out of bed and into a warm nightgown, she left the room and padded down the cold, dark hallway of Shiz, so different in the night-time. From somewhere in the darkness ahead of her there came a quiet sob; Elphaba followed the sound into the library, the last place she'd expected to find Galinda. Still, there she was, perched on the window-sill, her pale silk nightdress giving her an almost spectre-like appearance.

"Galinda?" Elphaba really didn't know what to do, so she came and sat down on the window-seat beside her..._friend? Is that right? Could I really be friends with someone like her?_ "Are you okay?" The snivelling stopped for a moment.

"I'm fine. Go away." Elphaba had to stop herself from laughing.

_This is the same Galinda who thought getting mud on her shoes was the end of the world. How can she expect me to believe she's fine? Do I look that stupid?_

"You don't look fine, Galinda, you look upset."

"Please, just go."

"I'm not going until you tell me what's wrong, so spill." Normally Elphaba wouldn't hang around, but Galinda really did look awful, and she wasn't going to be that insensitive and just leave now, was she?

"Fine, but promise you won't tell anyone." Galinda looked up, tears running down her cheeks. "You can't even tell Pfannee or Shenshen or Milla. Or the teachers. No one."

"I promise." _As if I'd ever talk to Pfannee - her head is emptier than a bucket full of holes...I swear a goldfish is probably brighter than she it. _

Elphaba and Galinda sat side-by-side in darkness and silence while the latter composed herself. After an eternity of silence Galinda sighed and looked Elphaba in the eye.

"My brother's dead." The words echoed around the library, seemingly whispered by the thousand books housed on the shelves, as if the truth of those words, the pain that radiated from them, was too great for them to belong to the girl alone. Elphaba felt the cold build up in her chest as if a hand of ice had just grasped hold of her heart. She'd never even known Galinda had a brother, and now he was...Elphaba shut the final word out as she thought of Nessa.

"Galinda...what happened?"

"He was ill. He lived with my dad - my parents separated quietly perhaps eight, ten years ago - I didn't even get to say goodbye to him..." Instinctively Elphaba put her arm around Galinda as the blonde began to cry once more. They stayed there in each other's arms until near-dawn.

"Elphie?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for staying with me. I'll make it up to you: I'll stop that rumour about you being allergic to water," Galinda murmured, nodding towards the wet patch on her friend's arm where her tears had fallen.

"Um, actually, no you're not."

"Why? Do you want rumours like that?"

"No, but as much as I like being your friend when no one else is around, I don't think either of us want anyone else to know about this. It's kind of...weird. I don't want people knowing that I can be compassionate - it kind of ruins the evil looks I give them."

"I guess I don't want people to find out either, considering...you don't like pink, do you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"No, not really," Elphaba replied amicably.

"We're friends, though? Right?"

"On one condition."

"What?"

"Don't you ever call me 'Elphie' again."

"Oh...okay. So friends?"

"Of course. Any time you want to talk, I'll be there."

"And I'll see what I can do to keep the others off your back."

"Thanks."

"No, thank you. We'd better go or I won't have time to get ready," the blonde smiled slightly as she stood up and headed towards the door. "I'll see you later, Elphie." Elphaba groaned.

_She's forgotten already...now I'll be 'Elphie' for the rest of my life. If I'm going to be remembered as something, I'd like it to be powerful or grand - maybe even with alliteration, just to make it more memorable...anything but 'Elphie'! _


End file.
